The Brightest Star in the Sky
by Blood-Spattered
Summary: A chance meeting between a Russian navigator and a new independent female officer in a park sparks a chain reaction of close misses, not realising that they are no more than just a few decks away from seeing each other again…


Star Trek

**Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek. I wish I did. But no, I don't. However, Alexandra _does _belong to me. As does this story. If I see this story anywhere else, I will find you and I will sue you. Yeah, I don't joke around with my stories. **

**Summary: A chance meeting between a Russian navigator and a new independent female officer in a park sparks a chain reaction of close misses, not realising that they are no more than just a few decks away from seeing each other again…  
**

**Author's Notes: Alright, despite my disclaimer, I really am a nice person…I'm not a tyrant, I don't steal, lie, cheat…yeah, you get the idea. Anyway, please read and review my story and…I guess that's all I have to say, so, without further ado, here is The Brightest Star in the Sky.**

The Brightest Star in the Sky

_Space. The Final Frontier._

_These are the voyages of the starship _Enterprise

_It's five year mission. To explore strange new worlds._

_To seek out new life and new civilizations._

_To boldly go where no man has gone before._

For as long as she could remember, she had recited those words to herself every night before she went to bed. To remind her that her destiny was to one day fly up to the stars that she would spend hours counting and memorizing the names of. Who had told it to her, she couldn't remember. She knew for sure that it wasn't her parents, who had always disapproved of her decision to enter Starfleet Academy. Actually, they'd disapproved of her entire dream of being a Starfleet officer, but they'd done their best not to ruin it for her.

The next day she was to go to her first post on a real starship. She was nervous, and for once, the little recitation wouldn't calm her nerves. _Will I be able to live up to those expectations? Will I be able to explore new worlds, to seek out new life, new civilizations? Can I go where no one has gone before? I'm not at all sure…_

Sighing, she stood up from her bed, grabbing her robe from the bedpost. Maybe some fresh air would calm her nerves. Some stargazing would probably help as well. Pulling the light navy-blue robe over-top of her T-shirt and light pants, she walked out into the cool night air. She was lucky to have her apartment right on the edge of a small park, which she could walk to whenever she needed a de-stress. It had cost a lot to have that extra luxury, but her parents, in an out of nowhere act of support, had splurged for her.

As she walked the path, her blonde hair swirled around her ears in the slight breeze that blew past her. Looking up to the sky, she smiled as she saw all the stars that twinkled above her, like little windows to heaven. In about ten hours she would be up among those stars, living her dream. How many people could say that they were living their dream? Probably not many, and it was an exhilarating feeling. Remembering that she needed her sleep, she turned around to head back to her apartment.

She looked up at the stars again, and started to name some of them. To name all the ones she could see would take a long time, so she just named the brightest ones. "Sirius, the Dog Star…The North Star…" She started, and was even pointing to them, but didn't get to continue, as she banged into someone doing the exact same thing: staring at the stars and not watching where they were going.

"Oh my goodness, I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." She said, taking a step backwards from the young man she'd bumped into. Her baby-blue eyes scrutinized him as he looked startled for a moment before answering.

"It's alright, I vasn't vatching where I was going either…" He said, in a heavy Russian accent, but it wasn't overpoweringly heavy. Looking at him, he had dark brown hair and dark eyes, and was probably a year or so older than her, so out of Starfleet, if he was ever in it. "I didn't expect to see anyvon out here so late, vat are you doing?" He asked, cocking his head at her, bringing her back to the present.

"Calming my nerves, actually. I always come out to this park when I'm nervous, and look at the stars. I know them all by name and I still want to know more." She said, and immediately tried to shut herself up. She had a habit of telling what felt like her whole life story to strangers, and she really had to stop doing that.

"Yes, the stars are vwery calming. They can tell a story if you know vat to look for. For instance, those stars right there?" He pointed up to a grouping of stars, and she turned her head, following his finger to them, and nodded. "They tell me about a group who visited the planet right in the middle of them, and vat they found there. It's a fascinating story, but only for those who know how to see it." She smiled at him, cocking her head slightly.

"It sounds fascinating. Now, I can see a story in…that star right there." She pointed to the North Star. "I can see a little girl lying in a field, staring up at the stars. That's the first star she ever knew by name, the North Star. She decided, right then, that one day she'd fly up among those stars in a starship. What happened to her? It's really a very interesting story, but then, it's only for those who know where to look." She turned her head to him, who was watching her, smiling softly.

"You are a vwery intelligent voman." He said, bowing his head slightly and she grinned, blushing slightly.

"Thank you. You're a very nice man to compliment someone that you bump into in the park. What's your name?" She asked, smiling at him, deciding it didn't matter. She'd probably never see him again anyway; after all, she wouldn't be back on Earth for a while.

"Pavel. Unfortunately, you shouldn't bother looking for me here again. I'm only here on shore leave, and ve leave again tomorrow morning." He said, smiling at her, and she smiled back.

"Oh my goodness, tomorrow morning, that's when I'm leaving to go on my first starship post, I need to get some sleep. It was very nice talking to you, Pavel; maybe someday we'll meet again…" She said, reaching out to shake his hand, and he took her hand, giving it a soft kiss in a very old-fashioned way, but she was flattered nonetheless.

"It vas my pleasure, but you never told me your name..." He said, releasing her hand, but she had already started down the path, giving him one last wave, and called her name back to him.

"Alexandra." She then turned and started to run off, and he noticed that she was in bare feet, and he watched her disappear, sighing. The one really nice woman he met, and both he and she were leaving to go into space the next day. Ah well, maybe one day they'd meet again, after all, they were both in Starfleet. He was only a navigator, but at least he got to be on the bridge, not a lot of people could say that.

Knowing that the time was indeed very late, he turned, heading towards the docking station, where he could catch one of the last shuttles up to the ship. The _Enterprise _wouldn't wait for him in the morning, and he had a tendency to be late, so he usually just remained sleeping on the ship on shore leaves. Actually, he didn't really come down to the planets much at all, but Sulu had asked him nicely if he wanted to come with him to share a drink.

Of course, Sulu had picked up a girl, and Chekov hadn't, and he decided he didn't really want to hang out with them after all. How did that English saying go again? Oh yes, two's company, three's a crowd. Sighing, he sat in the shuttle, staring out the window, wondering if she was still thinking about him…Alexandra …what a beautiful name…

Alexandra, or Alex, as most people called her, was indeed still thinking about Pavel. _What a nice guy…too bad he's going into space tomorrow…well, so am I, so I guess it doesn't matter. Oh well…maybe I'll meet him again…_Entering her apartment, she took off the loose robe, folding it and placing it inside her suitcase, knowing that if she didn't, she would forget it in the apartment. She sat down at her computer, feeling the need to refresh her memory as to what ship she needed to go to tomorrow once again.

_Alright, here are the instructions…report to docking station A at 0800 hours. You will then be beamed to your ship, the starship _Enterprise. _Further instructions will follow then._

Sighing, she shut down the computer and climbed into bed, making sure that an alarm was set to wake her up the next morning. Her new uniform was lying on the chair by her bed, a light blue coloured dress. Her last thought before sleep was that she wondered if Pavel wore a blue uniform as well…

------------------------------------------------In the morning------------------------------------------

The next morning dawned bright and sunny, and Alex was up as soon as the sun hit her eyes. She had a shower, mind wandering to the events of the night before. Had it been a dream or had she really met someone in the park? She supposed it was real, after all, she wasn't one prone to having vivid dreams like that. Sighing, she glanced at the chronometer on the wall, and panicked, seeing that she had only half an hour to dry off and get to the docking station. Why, oh why did she always leave things to the last minute?

Luck was with her for once, and she was at the station five minutes early, leaving her a bit of time to quickly smooth her uniform and check that all personal hygiene aspects were good. Looking at herself in the mirror, she had seen that the uniform was actually quite flattering to her figure, accentuating her curves just right. Before she could think about it, however, it was soon her turn to get beamed up. They told them to leave their bags behind, that they would be beamed up using the cargo transporters and they could pick them up at a later time.

As she stood on the platform, she couldn't help but fidget a little with her hands, excitement and nerves taking over her emotions. She was nudged by the woman standing next to her, who smiled at her. "If you don't stop fidgeting, you're going to complicate the transporter, and we're going to leave half of you behind. Wouldn't that be an embarrassing way to end?" The woman was tall, with dark hair and green eyes, and was dressed in a red uniform. Alex immediately liked her, and she smiled and forced herself to stop fidgeting. "Thanks." She whispered to the as yet unknown woman.

Finally, the time came and she felt the weird detached feeling that came with transporting, as well as a bit of tingling, and suddenly she was in the transporter room of the ship, and being told to move off the platform for the next group to come up. The taller woman followed her.

"So where are you being posted? I'm in Security. The name's Tracy, by the way. Tracy Wellens." She stuck out her hand to Alex, who shook it solemnly, wondering how people could be so nice and chatty.

"Hi, I'm Alexandra. Alexandra Ryan, but everyone calls me Alex. I'm working in Sickbay. Assistant Medical Officer, so I'm probably never going to get to go down to a planet…you're lucky…" Tracy shrugged, but they were both interrupted as they were told to move out of the way. Someone with a electronic clipboard asked her rather dully what her name was, then gave her a room number and told her to go pick up her suitcases in the cargo bay and take them there. Tracy had already had her things taken to her room, since she'd come on early for some reason, so they said goodbye and split up, heading towards their respective rooms.

Alex had packed light, as usual, with only one suitcase to try and find in the mountainous pile that was sitting in the cargo bay. Sighing, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and started digging through the pile, every so often handing other people their suitcases if she found them, before finally finding hers at the very bottom of the pile. Yanking it out with a mighty tug, she nearly toppled over backwards with the momentum.

Bracing herself against one wall, she took a moment to regain her breath, automatically smoothing her hair, which had started flying everywhere with the effort required to get her suitcase out. Hefting the relatively light suitcase, she exited into the hallway, and paused, realizing that she had no idea in which direction to go. Room 212, Deck 25. Biting her lip, she glanced around, to see that everyone else seemed to know exactly where they were going. Too shy to ask anyone for directions, she finally found her way to a turbolift, deciding it would be a good idea to start by finding the correct deck number.

Climbing into the empty turbolift, she cleared her throat awkwardly and spoke out loud. "Deck 25…" Nearly falling over as the turbolift started moving. It appeared that these turbolifts were different than the ones on the ground, or maybe she was just more nervous. The empty walls of the turbolift almost seemed to close in on her, making her feel small, and she closed her eyes tight, forcing her mind away from it, searching for something pleasant to think about. For unknown reasons, it settled on Pavel and their outing in the park. A few minutes in which they'd spoken, and suddenly she couldn't stop thinking about him.

These thoughts carried her out of the turbolift and down the hall, and she nearly walked past her assigned quarters before she quickly stopped, noticing the number in her peripheral vision. Looking at the door, she wondered for a moment how you got it, then stepped up, and jumped when it opened on it's own, obviously recognizing her somehow.

Blinking, she shrugged and walked in, finding there to be a ready-made bed, a drawers, as well as extra little nooks for any hobbies the owner might have. Seeing that there was a small bookshelf in one corner, she began to extract the antiques she had brought along. It was a hobby of hers, to read antique books…not keep them in plastic covers and never ever take them out, because…that was boring. In the middle of it, there was a beeping sound and a voice came through the speakers.

"Dr. McCoy to Ryan." Seeing as he was obviously calling her, she placed the book carefully down and walked over to the communicator, putting pressure on the button with one slim finger.

"Uh, Ryan here…" Uncertainty clouded her voice, and she was relieved when the voice on the other end continued, and she detected a hint of a Southern accent, even through the speaker.

"Could you come to sickbay please? You're officially on duty, starting as soon as you get here." With that, the connection cut off, leaving her blinking in confusion, then sighed. Rubbing her forehead with one hand, she once again exited her quarters, heading towards the turbolift again, and suddenly began to get excited again. Her first real posting, and she was going to finally get to do something other than pull suitcases from a pile and get lost on the way to her quarters.

-------------------------------------------The Bridge---------------------------------------------------

Pavel Chekov had, through lots of practice, perfected the art of multi-tasking. He was plotting a course, tapping his fingers on the console, and telling Sulu every little detail about Alex, all at the same time.

"I'm telling you, she was the most beautiful voman I have ever seen, Hikaru." He said with conviction, but in a lowered voice, so that nobody else would overhear. Not that he would have minded, but he didn't know all of the bridge crew that well. There was mostly relief crew up at the moment, rather than Uhura or Scotty. Spock was at the science station, however, and, with his superb hearing, he could probably hear every word the navigator and helm were saying, although why he would be listening, Chekov didn't know.

"Oh yeah? Tell me about her." Sulu said, swiveling so that he was facing Chekov. He seemed genuinely interested, perhaps wondering what kind of female could get his friend so infatuated after only a few minutes of talking.

"Vell, her hair…it waved back and forth like rays of the sun, it was so golden…and her eyes…like the clearest blue sky I have ever seen…and she was smart, and funny, and…and…vonderful…" He trailed off, seeing as Sulu was watching him with an amused look on his face.

"You found all this out in only five minutes?" Sulu was obviously wondering if Chekov had made all this up to impress him. He had left rather upset the night before, because Sulu had ended up with a girl and he hadn't. "Must be some girl…" He was a little condescending, and Chekov immediately bristled.

"She vas…and we were talking about the stars…and she's in Starfleet…if only I knew her last name…" Chekov trailed off, and nearly made a mistake on his plotting, he was so lost in his daydreams. Bringing himself back to reality with a sad sigh, he continued on. "Not like that is going to happen…she's probably off on her starship right now, and doesn't even remember me…"

Oh how wrong he was…

((There we go. One chapter down. I know, I haven't updated most of my other stories recently and here I am writing yet another one. Well, I hope those who read this story enjoy it and I hope you guys read it and review it. I'll try and keep up this length of chapters, but there are no guarantees…but I swear, I'll try very hard.))


End file.
